Thrillers

FEAR is a powerful motivating factor in our lives. It causes people to succeed or fail, but it never allows them to stand still. We are all impacted by FEAR in some way. The question is do we run to it and face it or do we run away from it? Flight or fight, but what if the fear that assails us isn’t exactly the way we perceive it? We only know if we face our fear to find out what F-E-A-R might actually means: False Evidence Appearing Real.

A story of fear, family and change. Could you outrun your fear? Mary is running. From her past. From her fear. To protect her son, Mary must leave the only home she knows and go where she can’t be found. As she settles into her new life, the past seems to be catching up with her.

Can Mary outrun her biggest fear? Or will it hold its grip on her forever?

Maddie makes contact with a former lover, the owner of a beautiful private estate on the outskirts of Sydney, whom she had abandoned for another man six years earlier.

She appears to be welcomed back and the affair starts again. The lover has changed in her absence, developing macabre ideas about the physical manifestation of human love. He weaves a complex story concerning his beliefs, disclosing details of several murders he has committed to further his aims.

She soon discovers he harbours a strong resentment towards her earlier ‘disloyalty’, and his desire for revenge becomes frighteningly apparent. Mental cruelty morphs into physical abuse. She must fight back to free herself. Her efforts result in the self-realisation of some intriguing and rather frightening character traits.

The outcome is the death of her lover and a surprising emotional climax. Her desire to take control of the estate motivates her to dispose of the body and embark on an elaborate cover-up. However, all is far from well for Maddie who plunges from crisis to crisis until the amazing ending of this cliff-hanger story.

Bill East is an Australian author, born in London just prior to the outbreak of World War Two. His earliest memories are of the London Blitz and an absent father, fighting overseas. He joined the Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer prior to marrying his New Zealand wife and migrating to Australia in 1968. He lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with his wife of fifty-three years. He has two sons and four grandchildren.

In 1987, he established his own company in the Cosmetic Raw Materials Industry. Since his retirement, the company has been managed by his elder son. Bill’s interests have been extremely wide.

The Arbutus was Bill’s first novel, a psychological thriller and a story of intrigue, revenge and the sexual components of murder. The Arbutus was the first novel in what became The Maddie Trinco Trilogy and was followed by Maddie Trinco and finally, Maddie and the King of Paradise.

Ashif Malik, Ash for short, born in Lahore, seventeen, intelligent, good-looking, talented cricket all-rounder and pleasant tenor, is welcomed by the residents of Pepynbridge, a quintessentially English village in Northamptonshire, when in March 2015 he moves to live there with his father, a consultant psychiatrist, his mother and his younger sister, Leela.

Ash joins the Abbey choir and, playing for Pepynbridge Firsts, his prowess comes to the attention of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. But young Ash is not all he seems, as Leela and the more prescient in the village come to suspect.

When he falls in love with Sophie Wicken, rising sixteen and daughter of a local farmer, Ash struggles to preserve his cover and events move quickly to a climax that sends shock waves far beyond Pepynbridge.

Author Peter Morrell was born just before D-Day. After school and university, where he read French, he qualified, first as a solicitor and then as a barrister. He practised at the Bar until 1992, when he was appointed a circuit judge, trying criminal and civil cases in London and the East Midlands. Peter retired from the Circuit Bench in 2009 but continued to preside over Mental Health Tribunals until 2014.

Peter has been an observant Christian since childhood and in 2008, was ordained a deacon of the Church of England and a year later, a priest. He currently ministers in country parishes near his home where he has lived for over forty years.

Peter wrote two thrillers in the 1980s, which were not published. In 1998, he started to write The Rector of Pepynbridge. Professional commitments meant it was not completed until after he retired in 2014. It was published in June 2015.

Two other books in the series, The Rector of Pepynbridge and The Honourable Member for Pepnybridge are both set in Pepynbridge, a village in Northamptonshire and draw upon Peter’s professional experiences as barrister, judge and clergyman as well as his knowledge of rural life.

Peter is married to Mary, with two grown-up daughters and a granddaughter.

When British Sergeant Craig Blackburn unearths two ancient scrolls, buried in the sand inside the mysterious Cave of Ibrahim, in the Iraqi desert he has had no idea of the incredible chain of events that he is setting in motion. He photographs the texts and re-buries the scrolls inside the cave.

Lionel Ross’s amazing mix of characters include members of the British and Israeli security services, an Iraqi Professor, a Southern Baptist Minister, a Jordanian Prince and an Al Qaeda group. They are all involved in a breathless race against time to discover the location of the scrolls and to keep their contents away from the world’s media.

Each, however, has very different reasons for suppressing this news.

All this takes place against the backdrop of the never-ending catalogue of tragedy in today’s Middle East.

Lionel Ross, in his fourth novel ‘Men of Conviction’ tells the fascinating tale of three desperate and disparate young men, released from prison on the same day. They are Hussein, the Islamist preacher of Jihad, Wayne the burglar and Dovid the religious Jew and ‘one offence fraudster.’ Men of Conviction is their story over the ensuing ten years.

Hussein, predictably, builds a shadowy Jihadist organisation with the intention, through terrorism, of creating the Caliphate of Britannia under Shari’a law.

Wayne is determined to change his life and almost accidently finds himself the owner of a chain of Massage Parlours. By his previous standards, this is the path to wealth and respectability!

Dovid, on the other hand, with the aid of his wealthy grandfather, becomes a successful property developer.

The action takes place in such contrasting locations as 21st century Manchester, Istanbul, Afghanistan, Belfast and a mysterious breakaway Islamic republic. The contemporary background to the plots ensures the airing of such issues as Islamist and Irish terrorism, religious intolerance and drug trading.

The main characters are easily recognised as typical members of today’s British multi-cultural society. As the cataclysmic ending approaches, the paths of the three main characters are destined to cross again in an epic and amazing ending.

In this gripping, fictional piece, an educated health professional falls out of a long-term relationship only to dive into another.

It starts in an inauspicious way, but to help him forget the past, his decisions become imprudent.

Paul is a pharmacist with a co-dependency issue, and instead of taking time to heal after a break-up, decides to find companionship online. He also attempts to make some illicit extra money by manufacturing fentanyl in his new home. He thinks he is making sound decisions, when in fact, he is only attempting to erase the memory of his lost love by acting rashly.

Then there is the question of who is using who, as Lucy, his online partner, has motives of her own, which may or may not include the life of Paul.

Follow this harrowing story to the end and see how one bad decision turns into either an empire or a disaster, and who comes out on top.

Peter Barski was born and raised in Florida. He grew up with a passion for fishing and the beach and spent countless hours outdoors growing up there.

In 1987, he joined the military and became a pharmacy technician, introducing him to the medical field. He served during the First Gulf War conflict and was awarded a combat medal. After almost seven years serving, he left the military to pursue a college education.

This is where he developed a love for writing, entering several short story contests, winning third place for the story A Ride On A Bus.

In 2000, he graduated Nova Southeastern with a doctorate in pharmacy and began a career in retail pharmacy. Over the course of twenty years in this profession, he saw first-hand the effects the opioid epidemic had on his clients and the people of Florida.

Upon retiring in 2020, he wanted to convey to the public some of the stories he encountered along the way and decided that writing was the best way to convey them. To Steal from the Dead is Peter’s first book.

A story about two young men growing up in the East End of London in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Liam McNally and Michael Bennett appear to be at different ends of a spectrum that encompasses many highs and almost as many pitfalls as two young lives could encounter. The overriding beacon that shines through is the eternal friendship that exists between them. Although Liam is primarily the stronger of the two, on the surface, as events materialise, their obvious dependence on each other manifests itself in ways hardly mundane or run of the mill.

Their experiences cascade, intertwined indelibly through a mutual respect, hard to define, but nonetheless obvious. To say that the narrative is only about the two friends is misleading. Many other individuals, family, friends, and some not so friendly, are all integral pieces of the jigsaw.

All the events eventually come together in a climactic scenario that affects everybody. However, hope springs eternal.

Author Stephen Marshall was born in London in 1952. He moved to Manchester in 1972 where he married Brenda, his wife of almost forty-eight years. They have 3 children, Cali, Lian, and Stephen junior, who designed the cover of this book. They also have 4 grandchildren, Kayla, Lenai, Ella, and Liel.

Stephen worked extensively in the motor trade, and also for a long time in training, particularly with Apprenticeships. He played at a high level of football and was involved in various bands over the years as a Guitarist/Vocalist, producing records and CD’s at different stages. He has also had articles reproduced in the Manchester Evening News, and the Manchester United official programme.

He first embarked on this story around thirty-years ago. Recent retirement inspired him, if that is the correct phrase, to try and get it published. Thanks to Lionel Ross and i2i publishing this appears to have materialised. So much so he has already begun a follow up.

Maddie finally attains her aimed-for status of ‘assassin par excellence’. Her targets cease being simply ‘bad’ people but rather significant figures in national and International society whose immoral intentions have been detrimental to society at large.

Her first assignment appears successful until the appearance of the investigative team of Proud and Bramley who uncover the crime.

Maddie and her partner, Caspar Hopfner pay off the blackmailing duo and proceed to the more important ambition of eliminating an African dictator. The assassination seems to have been achieved albeit with frightening and significant results.

Bill East is an Australian author, born in London just prior to the outbreak of World War Two. His earliest memories are of the London Blitz and an absent father, fighting overseas. He joined the Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer prior to marrying his New Zealand wife and migrating to Australia in 1968. He lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with his wife of 53 years. He has two sons and four grandchildren.

In 1987, he established his own company in the Cosmetic Raw Materials Industry. Since his retirement, the company has been managed by his elder son.

Bill’s interests have been extremely wide. He describes himself as something of a dilletante, playing most sports and most musical instruments, painting, carving, casting in bronze, piloting light aircraft, riding horses, sailing competitively, playing in bands, singing in choirs and more. His current interests are kayaking, walking, going to the gym, playing the guitar and shakuhachi and keeping his French up-to-date.

Bill’s first novel was the psychological thriller The Arbutus, a story of intrigue, revenge and the sexual components of murder. The Arbutus was the first novel in what became The Maddie Trinco Trilogy and was followed by Maddie Trinco and finally, Maddie and the King of Paradise.

As a young girl, Simone Valois, the beautiful daughter of a French diplomat, witnesses his assassination.

With the onset of World War II, she is determined to avenge her father by using her principal asset, her beauty, as a means of seducing enemy soldiers. She becomes a double agent and then, aided and abetted by a young resistance fighter, she is responsible for a number of victories in her fight against the evils of Nazism.

Then with the probability of imminent capture she is forced to flee. Eventually captured and abused can she survive the war and in what kind of physical and emotional state?

Author Ernest Pick tells us; ‘I was born in Prague and emigrated to America at the age of four. I studied at several universities including Pennsylvania, London, Bordeaux, Nancy and Case Western Reserve. Along the way, I received an Exchange fellowship to teach at the University of Bordeaux as well as two Fulbright Scholarships.

At the age of twenty-four, I won a playwriting contest at UCLA where the play was produced to accolades. My play, Rasputin, was produced to considerable success, despite Rasputin’s daughter’s fierce opposition.

With time permitting, I have been writing ever since. My first novel, I Think I Went To London, has been lauded as exceptional work. Eye of the Dawn is my fifth novel. I have completed a new one called Assisted Living in which an elderly actor collapses, and awakening from his coma, believes he is the role he played on a TV soap over twenty years.

I presently live in Durham, NC with my wife and two whippets who run close to the speed of light. My wife runs quite a bit slower, however.’

This is the long-awaited sequel to The Arbutus.

Maddie is released from jail where she has been serving time for murder. She pursues her ideas of using her macabre capabilities to fight injustice.

Not as confronting as The Arbutus, Maddie Trinco is a melange of four stories; the vigilante mentality of Maddie and her new partner, the property developer Caspar Hopfner; a group of friends considering hiring a hitman to pre-empt a murder that they know will be committed by one of their number, currently away in France; a garrulous ex IRA informer; and the absentee himself who is about to return to Australia.

The story examines the morality of justice and revenge, the concept of death as a result of shame and degradation and the positive influence of being ‘in love’ on ambitions fuelled by burning hatred.

Bill East is an Australian author, born in London just prior to the outbreak of World War Two. His earliest memories are of the London Blitz and an absent father, fighting overseas. He joined the Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer prior to marrying his New Zealand wife and migrating to Australia in 1968. He lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with his wife of fifty-three years. He has two sons and four grandchildren.

In 1987, he established his own company in the Cosmetic Raw Materials Industry. Since his retirement, the company has been managed by his elder son. Bill’s interests have been extremely wide.

Bill’s first novel was the psychological thriller The Arbutus, a story of intrigue, revenge and the sexual components of murder. The Arbutus was the first novel in what became The Maddie Trinco Trilogy and was followed by Maddie Trinco and finally, Maddie and the King of Paradise.

A mysterious symmetry between a series of apparent murders and suicides committed simultaneously in different types of properties around Manchester presents a most perplexing puzzle for recently-promoted DI Shelly King.

“The Fellowship” purports to be The New Testament Learning Fellowship, but we ultimately learn that NTLF actually stands for something completely different. Whilst the founder of NTLF aims for ‘societal improvement’, the solution is much more sinister.

The author is a master of interweaving multiple plots and taunting the reader with snippets of clues which only become relevant much later in the book.

In between fascinating descriptions of how the CID operate, we are treated to superbly written and graphic descriptions of such things as the agony of poisoning, lesbian lovemaking and bondage, the latter not all consensual.

Although an overworked cliché, this book unquestionably is one which most readers will not be able to put down. The gripping and compulsive challenges the officers face never cease to surprise and excite. Most readers will probably develop at least some affection for the characters who toil under the relentless pressure faced by the police, and many may even shed a tear when one pays the ultimate price.

Get ready for a high-octane thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat! Luke, an intellectually brilliant but socially awkward data scientist, lands a dream job at a prestigious Silicon Valley tech company. Teaming up with the sharp-tongued ex-hacker Ada and Clark, scion of a famous venture capitalist, their journey takes them into the heart of California’s tech hub where artificial intelligence is about to change the world.

But their lives take an unexpected turn when a string of mysterious deaths rocks the tech scene. Driven by the desire to make things right, they launch an investigation and discover a far-reaching conspiracy lurking beneath the glimmering surface of the Valley. As they venture into forbidden territory, survive adrenaline-fueled break-ins, and become hunted by the authorities, they expose a terrible truth.

But time is running out! Can they prevent the upcoming apocalypse?

THE SCAEVOLA CONSPIRACY is a pulse-pounding tech thriller that delves deep into the underbelly of Silicon Valley, combining gripping suspense with cutting-edge technology. Luke’s electrifying adventure will leave you breathless, reminding us that sometimes the greatest heroes are those who dare to challenge the boundaries between the virtual and the real.

Set in 2047, the chilling carnage following the onset of a deadly virus, plaguing a broken society and blighting humanity, had germinated humankind into a civilization tainted with anarchy, murder and corruption. Assigned to maintain order, Lieutenant Brock, a covert security agent with a license to kill, but a yearning for life, succumbs to lust as an alluring female at a loose end enters the equation.

Seeking refuge in passion, a sensual affair spawned in the backdrop of violence, triggers Brock to appraise the hazards of a brutal life in the turmoil of a defunct culture. But those who ride the Tiger can never dismount its back. Can love conquer all? Or does evil vanquish virtue? A shadow from a dark place answers those questions…

An ardent passion for flying brings New Zealand born Peter Garland to the RAF and war-torn Britain. Very quickly he settles into the life of a fighter pilot with the help of romance, comradery and unmatched determination.

However, it isn’t long until Peter is plunged into the perils of air warfare where he faces not only the enemy, but also his own demons. Everything he holds dear hangs in the balance as injury, loss and the ever-present Nazi threat soon takes a brutal toll.

As the ravages of the war rage on, The Pathfinder operation takes Peter into the belly of the action where all his skills, talent and grit are put to the test. He and his trusty navigator, Gary quickly find themselves swept up in the treacherous turbulence of this great operation.

Little do they know that this mission will have life-altering consequences…

The Pathfinder is a tragically heart-warming tale of heroism and friendship. A story of how to overcome adversity when all seems lost. It shows that out of the depths of destruction and despair come hope, togetherness and strength.

With nostalgic charm, bittersweet triumph and poignant emotion, follow Peter on his epic journey through war, peace and love.

Golden Horde: The New Hammer from the East is a fast-paced action-oriented, political thriller.

As China flexes its political and economic might, one man at the highest levels in the Chinese government turns Mao’s dictum, Power comes from the barrel of a gun, on its head. After centuries of China’s humiliation, he plots world domination without firing a shot.

Putting China on top of the world’s power structure by damaging her competitors, his Triad-linked plan brings a new level of secrecy and ruthless operation to its way of doing business. Communicated to the members of its network though an ancient Chinese dialect, the rogue elements within the Government implementing the plan, face opposition.

Despite suffering and death, only a courageous few stand in the way. A Democracy Movement within China along with the security services of the international community outside of the Middle Kingdom become aware of the Golden Horde plot and are committed to its failure.

Who will prevail?

Can the hordes of the new Khan be stopped before it’s too late?

Following up on an opportunity to get his book published, David Jones becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue following a murder linked to his publisher and then, the police who investigate it.

While trying to establish the right thing to do, Jones finds himself getting drawn into the world of DS Paul Craven, an officer with a chequered past.

But Jones and Craven have their own agendas to follow and as one works to attain his ambition to have his book published, the other, unbeknown to Jones or colleagues, tries to bring down a branch of the European mafia while fending them off as they seek their revenge.

The two very different strands of the story involve a possible involvement with Hollywood on the one hand and Interpol on the other as both men try to balance the achievement of their aims alongside a deepening involvement with the important women in their lives.

Jones and Craven find their lives going in directions and ending up in places they never imagined.

Ged Hilton was raised in the tough, but honest inner-city district of West Gorton, Manchester. His Irish parents had moved there from the troubled Shankhill road area of Belfast in the late 1950’s. The father was a hard-drinking, pub-brawling labourer. The mother was a petite, genteel red headed (titian) lady. Ged took after his father, Steven, Ged’s only sibling took after his mother. The Hiltons were soon followed over the Irish sea by fellow Belfast born, young priest, Father Patrick.

Ged never sought or caused trouble, but he was a natural magnet for it. His early life was beset by calamities. Soon after the early death of his father, Ged assaulted his schoolteacher, resulting in him being detained at a youth remand centre. It was there he met long-term friend Fingers, but also long-term arch enemies in vile bullies Burgess and Taylor. One awful event followed another, including the involvement in a failed warehouse robbery.

A short hell-raising pro-boxing career was followed by troubles working as a pub bouncer. Ged was involved in a couple of relationships, the second partner losing her unborn baby after an altercation with the Burgess family. There were many more incidents. The story starts and culminates with the violent murder of Burgess, by an enigmatic, petite beautiful redhead (titian). Burgess is mercilessly stabbed several times in the neck, before being launched into the canal in the gay village area.

The only clues found are three strands of titian-red coloured hair, which turn out to be misleading anyway. Who was the mysterious titian beauty. Who was she/he????

In the sterile corridors of the hospital, where life hangs by a thread and the line between salvation and death is thin, lies a man as unassuming as he is unforgettable. A quiet presence among the busy surgeons and frantic nurses, he is well-liked, dependable, and known for his unwavering commitment to his work. Yet beneath his calm exterior, his fascination with the human body is more than just professional.

It’s an obsession, a compulsion to understand and control the delicate balance between life and death. As he slips deeper into the shadows of his own mind, his hidden nature begins to surface, blurring the lines between healer and murderer. What begins as curiosity spirals into something darker, as his need for control pushes him over edge of morality.

In his isolation, he faces a dangerous transformation, one that forces us to question: how far can a man go in the name of knowledge, before he loses his humanity? Unnerving and provocative, this is a story of power, obsession, and the haunting duality that lies within us all.

Money is missing from a private bank in Mayfair, London.

Dexter, just back from an assignment in Morrocco, accepts the case. He quickly suspects an inside job with links to banks in Amsterdam, Moscow, and Cairo.

The funds do the usual rounds, transferred into another account then laundered through diamonds which are collateral to fund a civil war in Africa. Dexter is paired up with Uba, a Somali of diplomatic stock.

He’s in it for the glamour. She wants to stop the exploitation in her motherland.

A banker found under Westminster Bridge in suspicious circumstances and involvement from M15/M16 means they must watch their backs.

A severed pig’s head bought from an abattoir is the prelude to a series of murders.

First comes the bludgeoning of a professor of English literature … It seems at first to be an isolated crime. Then comes another, and another, and more.

The dons are in an unseemly panic.

The media can hardly conceal their delight. Detective-Inspector Hooligan is baffled. Obviously, the killer ‘has it in’ for professors of English literature and is intelligent, resourceful, elusive. Furthermore, he displays intimate knowledge of the university world. But, until he is caught, his motive remains a mystery. Without knowing a motive, where do you start to look?

Dogged investigations and intuition are the quirky detective’s only weapons. And will the killer overlook some essential detail? Killers usually do …

A murder mystery indeed, but also a comedy. Hooligan’s quest brings him into contact with many absurd dons, vain, bumbling, unethical, idle … Murder by Degrees might have been subtitled ‘Bloodshed With a Laugh’.

Author Victor Knight was born in 1939 in Barking, which was then in Essex and is now in East London. This makes him either an Essex Boy or an Eastender and an imposter in either category. Barking Public Library provided at least as much of his early education as did Westbury Primary School.

His first serious ambition was to be a musician; and he was for a time, a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal Academy of Music. But instead he found himself at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and obtained a degree in German and Russian. He then held various posts in university libraries, Leeds, Malta, Edinburgh where he obtained a PhD in German, and Liverpool as Chief Librarian. He derived inside knowledge of the ways of academe at that time.

He also visited Indonesia as adviser to the National Library in Jakarta. So much for Dr Jekyll. As Mr Hyde he played the trombone in amateur orchestras and accompanied and conducted amateur operatic societies. Or are Jekyll and Hyde the other way round?